Don't let the category fool ya, This is indeed a rant. I feel I need to start off my blog just ranting about things that piss me the F off in video games. This is to all of you retrogamers who hate new games or systems, I salute ye noble men. (Just as a disclaimer, the main fight between retros and newbies is the basic argument over whether it is quality or content that makes a game truly great. Retro's believe in the defining characteristic of addicting gameplay, well made controls, and thought poured into the tiniest crevaces of each game. Super Mario Bros has been proven to be able to be beaten in less than 5 minutes, yet the same people are still trying to beat their own records 25 years later. Newbies believe it is just a game filled to the overflow with DLC and explorable areas that make a game great. This has it's points, like with Fallout 3. I love this game just for the sheer amount of crap there is to do. You could wate half your life just wandering the deserts and towns without even finishing the first quest. But this has it's limits, and it seems to desensitize younger gamers to the work put in to different games made nowadays. When COD4 released, many people thought it was amazing, but as soon as MW2 released, NO ONE CARED FOR IT ANYMORE!!! Gamer today are just mindless drones who will shovel out 60 to 70 dollars for the same crap they bough only a few months earlier because it has "new maps, guns, and perks'" (I swear I heard someone say that about FF XIII). All I am trying to get at is that Retrogamers want to hang on to the pst, to relive the fun days of our youth just sitting in front of a TV trying to make it to that next level on Contra, or get that new difficulty on Goldeneye. Newer gamers just seem to ave less respect for the games and companies that make them. They take the privelege they have now for granted without realizing the agonizing steps that gaming as a culture had to make to reach the point where we are now. First off, as a retrogamer, I can't stand the new generation of gamer. Today, all kids care about is the new shooter or whether or not their "precious" games have the graphics quality to back it up, even when the things it is backing, such as the gameplay, isn't enough to wipe ass with. I. of course, am one of those rare gamers who couldn't give less of a crap about graphics, I care only for the gameplay. Since when does flashy visuals outweigh the replayability of a game? I spent more time trying to perfect my speed run of World 4 in Super Mario Bros. than I spent beating the campaign in Halo: Reach. And to make matters worse, my generation of gamer is practically extinct. I come from that awkward age between 2D and 3D, when the Genesis and SNES were gaining huge followings, and the Playstation and N64 had yet to be thought of. As a result, I grew up on games such a Street Fighter II, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario World, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, and even Mrs. Pac-Man. I remember the first time I laid my eyes on the 64. That sexy beast of a console took me by storm, and I still clock almost 20 hours a week playing those early 3D games. When I speak of near-extinction, I mean everytime I talk to fellow retrogamers, it seems that a few more are lost everyday into that dark realm I call CODZone. Sure, there is nothing wrong with the COD franchise, I play when I have the chance and I will admit it is a very well put together game, but when people begin to believe it is THE defining moment in gaming history, that truly brings my blood to the boil. I have a friend who, up until 6 months ago, couldn't stand the site of 12 years screaming in 1337 speak over their headphones, trying to piss off people they considered to be noobs, though they themselves wouldn't be crap without a little friend known as the noobtube. Then he bought Modern Warfare 2, and all hell broke loose in our conversations on what makes a game truly great. I stick to those old ideals that it isn't the gimmicky content that truly makes a game, it's the hardwork and care put into the final product, made by people who only wished to make a good game, not just crank out crap and gimmicks for a quick buck, while my friend (who USED to be like me) now believes it is online DLC and graphics that truly define a games worth. I ask you people who read this blog, does that truly make a game? Consider Mortal Kombat, Tekken, hell, even Sonic... these games were all ported into the new age, yet even devoted games find them from lackluster to "crap wouldn't bother gracing your putrid surface". What happened to these once noble titles, you may ask? Corporate greed to make money, not just create a game that people will remember. Imiss the days where games were simpler, yet challenging and just fun for years to come. I respected the companies that created gaming and continue to support them today. A good 8 times out of 10, if you ask a young gamer today what he thinks of Nintendo, Sega, Atari, and Namco, you'll probably get answers like "The Wii's for Girls, "Sonic sucks", "What?" and "Who?" (respectively). When I look at gamers today and their games I only see shooters and RPG's. I miss the days of platformers, shooters, Puzzle games, racers, and those dozen or so obscure sub-genres of the games. Their is a definite division between the two forms of gamers, and something has got to be done about it, and I don't see either side willing to make the first move... And that's one thing that pisses me off.